Norfolk State pays tribute to its Vietnam War fallen

NORFOLK

Jane Goss stood outside Echols Hall at Norfolk State University, clutching an oversized photograph of her late husband, Maj. Warren Goss.

A few feet away, his name was etched into a memorial that honored him and four others who had ties to the college and died in the Vietnam War.

The memorial was unveiled Saturday morning before a crowd of about 80 campus community members, military leaders and relatives, and it marked the culmination of a years-long effort by alumni to recognize the sacrifice of the four former students and one instructor.

“I am so proud of them,” Goss said of the men and women who pushed for a visible way to remember the sacrifices made by her husband and others.

Maj. Warren Goss, Capt. Alan Boffman, 2nd Lt. Linwood Carter Jr., and Sgt. Edward Williams had been students at the schoool before heading to Vietnam. Lt. Col. Alfred Barnes was a professor of military science.

The men were among 58,000 Americans who died in the conflict.

The Rev. James Edwards III, a 1969 alumnus and Vietnam veteran, said he was privileged to have known all five. He helped raise the $10,000 that was put toward building and erecting the memorial.

“We don’t have any memorials on Norfolk State’s campus that honor any veterans,” he said. “These young men... ought to have some recognition from the school” they attended, he said.

Organizers will include on the memorial the names of other Norfolk State students killed while serving in the military once their information is confirmed, Edwards said.

The 45-minute ceremony Saturday included remarks by Brig. Gen. Arnold N. Gordon-Bray, deputy commanding general for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Monroe.

He paid tribute to the five and noted the values they fought for are carried on by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as others stationed around the world.

Gordon-Bray said military cadets today realize they will soon fight for those same values. They also realize, he said, that “it is a probability that that memorial may have another name.”

Norfolk State freshman Mario Wilkerson, one of about 30 ROTC cadets on hand to witness the dedication, said he understood the risks ahead. But, he said, those risks didn’t outweigh the sense of duty, and the five men being honored Saturday deserved to be recognized and remembered by the college community.

“These people,” Wilkerson said, “gave their lives to protect what we here in America stand for.”

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com